Jenny on a Margarita Safari
by ewzrbvip
Summary: An old fic I wrote but never published, based on Jenny's life with Mike Franks in Mexico after JD. Definitely JIBBS. Includes an adorable girl called Scarlett. Not Beta'd.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This was a random fic I found on my computer. I don't think I ever published it or finished it. Please review so I know whether or not I should continue.

Disclaimer: I only own Scarlett!

I missed him. I missed him so much. I missed his blue eyes, silver hair and how he always knew what I was thinking. But I made a decision eight months ago, a decision that changed our lives. I knew the minute I heard "Oshimaida" that our past was coming back to haunt us. Even as the director, _ex-director_, of NCIS I made some decisions that I wasn't particularly proud of. My mistake was not shooting her seven years ago and when I decided to end it at the diner eight months ago, I needed Frank's help. If Jethro trusted him with his life, it was good enough for me. I wasn't going to die. My life wasn't going to end there; I had to bring another life to this world, a baby girl, Scarlett, now two months old.

I told Frank's that I needed his help; I told him that Jethro was also in danger. He agreed. He didn't know my plan, damn it; I didn't even know my plan. All I knew was that I had a dead prostitute's body in the back of my car. She was my replacement, and now the dead and cremated Jenny Shepard. I recall as we were waiting for the time to pass, we had an emotional conversation, something I didn't know Mike was capable of. He had to bring up the past of Jethro and I.

"When I first heard that Decker died of a heart attack, I was relieved." It sounded harsh, but it was true.

"Gibbs did say you were complicated."

I continued as if I wasn't interrupted, "relieved because I always knew that there was a chance this could come back to haunt us. And it's my fault" I felt the tears in my eyes starting to build, but I didn't want to cry, not now "I made some choices I'm not particularly proud of."

"We all have," he said and brought the cigarette to his mouth.

I looked at him, "even Gibbs?"

"He let you go didn't he?" he said as he turned to face me.

"No, he didn't. He didn't it into my five-point plan."

"Back to choices. You made your bed." He said taking his cigarette to his mouth again.

"What if I don't want to sleep in it?" my eyes were stinging, the tears were getting harder and harder to hold back.

He chuckled. I saw the smoke come out from his nose as he did so.

"Gibbs know?"

At the time I thought he meant my feelings for him. No, Jethro didn't know. He didn't know how much I loved him. He didn't know I had a baby, his baby. He didn't know that I told Ziva and Tony to take the rest of the trip off. But I wasn't prepared to admit this to Mike, yet. So I simply replied to him.

"Would it make a difference?"

"He came back, didn't he?" He said a matter-of-factly.

"He came back for the job," as I said this I looked out the window and let a small tear escape and quickly roll down my cheek.

"Well, that would explain all the conversations we had on my boat" I looked at him, a part of me hoped that Gibbs had cared enough about me to talk to Mike about it. Yet another part of me was also worried. Worried about what he said about me. What if he told Franks that he no longer loved me? What if…

Mike interrupted my thoughts, "you know, about the job," I quietly let out a sigh, "you're still young, you got plenty of time to make it right."

He was right; I was going to make it right by leaving him. I would be permanently erased from his life. Now when I give it more thought. I wished that I had the courage to tell him how I felt. But I guess it's too late now to be regretting. Jethro had finally moved on with his life, or so I've heard from Mike.

I had this plan for months. I had given Ducky a Jane Doe's blood to test, knowing that the Jane Doe had a type of heart disease which was fatal. Ducky gave me pain-killers to ease of the pain which I was meant to have if I had really had the disease. I also made him promise me never to tell Jethro, so that it would seem more believable. Although, I did deliberately let Jethro run into Ducky and I talking a couple of times so that he would suspect that something was wrong. I figured that it would be best, after my supposed death, that Jethro found out it was the more 'merciful' way for me to have died.

After what felt like hours of waiting, Mike said

"You know, when I asked you if Gibbs knew, I wasn't talking about your feelings for him. I was asking if he knew you were sick," he looked right at me, it seemed as though he was staring into my eyes trying to pick up whether or not I was lying to him, "you gonna lie to me now?"

Crap. He wasn't meant to know. It would now make it a hell lot harder for me to explain later.

"What makes you think I'm sick?" I tried to deny it, starring right at Franks trying to hide the shock in my voice.

"A person gets a look in their eye when time's running out."

He was lying. I wasn't dying, I wasn't even sick. Unless you count being pregnant sick and there was no way that Mike had seen me go through morning sickness.

"You're not that good."

He chuckled. Thank-god he didn't know that I was pregnant, yet. He didn't know that I was lying to him and that this was my entire plan, yet.

"Found you pills," he said after a while. I tried to act annoyed.

"You went through my purse?"

He replied quickly "Your purse and your cell phone and your glove box."

"Just being thorough?" my tone raised. Now I really was annoyed. I could handle my purse and glove box, but my cell, my cell had confidential contacts on my cell.

"You blame me?" he was pissed now.

I smiled and looked down. I was going to answer his question,

"Gibbs doesn't know."

He glared at me "What are you waiting for?"

"Good question."

* * *

When the shooters entered, it began. No, I didn't die, in fact the only injury I had was a shot to my left arm, which had now left a scar. Mike was out back when I took down all five of the shooters. When he heard the guns fire he ran to the diner, to find me dragging a body from the trunk the car.

It was then that I knew that I would have to explain myself. I cut in before he could have the chance to get pissed at me. My exact words were:

"Before you jump down my throat I want you to know that I'm pregnant. With Jethro's child" I choked "I needed this to end, it was my mistake and I ended it. I don't want Jethro to find out that I was ever pregnant, especially not with his child. I need them all to think that I'm dead and I hope you can help me to convince them that I'm dead. I also need a place to stay, permanently. In my will all my belongings will be transferred to your account, so that it will manage our financial problems."

After hearing this, he agreed on me staying at his place in Mexico. I would have a new life as his too-young-girlfriend. At first he said it would be better if I became his daughter, but it was too difficult finding me a mother, since Franks wasn't exactly a woman's man. Although, we both made an agreement: in front of other people we would be a happy couple. But f it was just the three of us, franks would become the Uncle Mike of Scarlett. Mike asked me a question, a tough question: "why don't you want him to know?" It was because I knew that he never loved me. It was because I was afraid that he would stay with me for the baby and not because he loved me.

"because it's best for him."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Someone asked me 'wouldn't Gibbs realize that it wasn't Jenny's body?' and 'wouldn't Gibbs have visited Mike before then?". Well you need to remember that Gibbs never saw her body because he never unzipped the bag in autopsy, secondly Gibbs didn't visit Mike because he was over-loading himself with work so that he wouldn't think about her. If anyone is doubting that the 'replacement' Jenny found didn't look like her, well, you just need a good imagination and trust her instincts to find someone that looked like her so that no-one would suspect that she wasn't dead.

A/N2: I really don't know where to go from here so please review or PM me if you have any ideas!

* * *

So here I am now, carrying my two-month-old baby in my arm, staying with Franks in Mexico, in his wretched house. Mike was outside smoking, drinking… I don't know, whatever he does outside every single day. Scarlett held up her smooth fist and waved it in the air. She opened her mouth; I'm guessing it was a yawn. He eyes slowly widened, revealing her Jethro-blue eyes. She was adorable, every time I looked at her, it reminded me of Jethro. For the first two weeks after Scarlett was born, Mike went out and attempted to buy nappies, milk powder and everything that either Scarlett or I needed for the both of us to be comfortable. But after a while he gave up, he didn't like going out to all the stalls, especially not seeing mothers and their crying infants. Scarlett was the type of child who had a soft cry. Mike and her soon developed a strong relationship. He was almost like a real dad to her and he loved her like one. He would talk to her about Jethro and my past, when he thought I couldn't hear him in the bathroom. I could hear him loud and clear. There were many parts of our relationship that Jethro had told him about. Many parts, which I wish, Mike hadn't told Scarlett since they weren't exactly PG rated. I spent most of my time trying to tidy up his house and find a place for everything so that it wouldn't be a hazard for Scar (my nickname for Scarlett) when she started to crawl. Mike didn't exactly like electronics; he didn't even have a phone. So time went past really fast.

Before I knew it, Scar was seven months and crawling on all fours. I always carried Scar after dinner and take her out for our evening stroll. It reminded me of the times Jethro and I had in Europe. We'd take a stroll down the beach and watch the sunset. He'd have his arms wrapped tightly around me to keep me warm and his other hand was always locked with mine. I remember him whispering in my ear as we walked slowly down the beach wanting time to stop forever, just so that the moment wouldn't end. He'd tell me that I was beautiful, that I was his life and he wouldn't be able to live without me. All that has changed now, he _can_ live without me. When I left him in Europe he moved on and developed a new relationship… _relationships_. I saw the mistakes that he made, getting married and divorced, married and divorced. I didn't want to be another one of his mistakes. I was afraid, afraid that if I told him how I felt for him that he no longer felt the same way for me. Getting to where I was, the director of a federal agency, especially being a woman, my career had been about making decisions and accepting the consequences. Not for Jethro though, I didn't want to make any chances with him. The sun was setting, it's almost a year now, living with Franks and watching the sun set almost every day, yet the sight never failed to take my breath away. It was time to take Scar in so that she could get some sleep and so that I could get some rest. It took almost an hour before scar would actually fall asleep, it was one of those days that she refused to let go of my sleeve, it was as if her life depended on it. When she finally did fall asleep, it decided to take a nice, long shower before going to bed.

As I was making my way down the corridor, I heard mike's voice. That was a first, Mike was actually talking on the cell that I gave him. He sounded annoyed, probably some car trade gone wrong.

"I'm fine, probie, how're you holding up?"

Crap. Gibbs? No, it couldn't be. He would never call Mike, he knew better than that. Mike hated technology, how did Jethro even know that Mike had a cell? Of course, McGee. I didn't want to hear anymore of the conversation, that was enough for one day.

I went inside the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror, surprisingly, I had lost a lot of weight, considering that most women gain weight after going through pregnancy. My hair's longer now, like it was when I became the director of NCIS. It was dyed brunette and I was tanner, a lot tanner. It was probably from spending the past year on the beach. It wasn't long until I started to think about Jethro, again. I had to stop, I let him go and I will never be happy until I can stop thinking about him every day. I stepped into the shower, trying to make myself forget, I felt the burning hot water hit my skin. I wasn't long until my entire body was bright red, time to get out and go to bed. I wrapped a towel around myself, got out of the shower and slipped on my night gown. Walking down the corridor I quietly pushed open Scar's door a peeked in one last time to check if she was fine, before finally crashing out in my own bed.

* * *

The sun was shining right into my face. Crap. I forgot to turn on my alarm. Crap. I'm late; Scar's probably starving by now. I jumped out of bed and slipped on my jacket and walked as quickly as I could without running to Scar's room. She wasn't in her crib. Thank god Mike had taken the liberty and taken care of Scar. I was going to take a shower and get changed, even though I've been living with Franks for the past year, I still avoid letting him see me in my night-gown, especially if I just woke up and looked like a mess. My eyes were puffy from all the crying I did last night, thinking about Jethro. I was in the shower when I heard a man talking to someone, Mike, I assumed that he was trying to entertain Scar while her mother was taking her time of in the shower. I couldn't hear what he was saying. After all, the hot water heating system was probably working on max. I took longer than I usually would in the shower, Mike was still entertaining Scar rather well. I couldn't make Mike's voice, yet I could hear Scar giggling. I knew I had to get out eventually, it was almost time for lunch and after living with Mike for so long, I discovered his idea of lunch was a bottle of beer and a couple of cigarettes. But since I had Scar, I forced him to restrict his smoking to a minimum, it was bad for her health, my health and his health. Thank-god he agreed.

When I got out of the shower 15 minutes later, I got changed into shorts and a normal t-shirt. I'd worn the shirt so many times now; if you tried you could actually see my bra. I decided that it would be the last time I wore it, and then I would donate it to Mike's rubbish tip at the back of the house. I was in the kitchen when I decided to check how well Mike was coping with Scar. He has never been able to spend more than an hour with Scar without making her break into tears. Surely it must have been over three now. I slipped on my oversized thongs and made my way out to the beach, it was awfully quiet now, I was beginning to feel a bit worried, after all, Mike wasn't a people person, let alone babies.

"Mike?" I called out.

There was no reply, I picked up my pace and turned the corner of the house. Then I saw him, not Mike, _him_. He was standing there, carrying Scar, staring into her deep Jethro-blue eyes. His back was to me. I would be able to recognize his silvery white hair anywhere. It was Jethro, here in Mexico, less than a meter away from me. Crap. He wasn't meant to be here. He was meant to be in DC, in his basement. Not in _Mexico_. I slowly breathed out and was trying to back away. He would see me eventually but if Mike hadn't told Jethro that I was Jenny Shepard, I still had a chance of pulling this off. After all, I did look different from what I did almost a year ago when Jethro last saw me and my hair was brunette and longer, I was tanner now and a lot skinnier than I was before. I finally had the courage to speak, aloud, and not in my head planning how different I looked.

"Hi," I tried to sound confident and put on some kind of accent so that I would sound different.

Jethro turned around slowly, trying not to wake Scar, who buried her face in his chest and was taking her afternoon nap. It was so sweet, Jethro was carrying his daughter for the very first time and they were actually getting along very well. Mike was still nowhere to be seen. Jethro looked up at me, and I saw the shock on his face.

"_Jen_?"

"Sorry, I think you must be mistaken me for another Jennifer. I'm Mike's unofficial wife, your carrying our daughter in your arms. Now can I please have her back; it's time for me to feed her."

_Unofficial wife. _Who would say that? I secretly wanted Jethro to keep holding Scar; after all she was also his daughter. But, I was almost certain that if a mother saw a stranger carrying her daughter, she would want to protect her.

"No you're definitely Jen. Why the hell are you here in Mexico?"

Crap. Where's Mike when you need him. I saw the fury burning up in Jethro's eyes. I knew that he knew that I was me. I knew he was mad at me. But, why does he care? It should be better for him now that I'm supposedly dead.

Then, Mike appeared from around the corner, behind Jethro. I saw that he was shocked too; I looked at him and gave him the 'play along or I'll shoot you' look and thanked-god he understood. Jethro saw that I was looking at something behind him and turned as well, he saw Mike.

"Mike, why the hell is she here?"

"She's my wife Gunny,"

"She's Jenny and even if she isn't, isn't she a bit too young for you?"

Mike raised his hand as if he was about to smack Jethro on the back of the head, "don't tempt me, Probie."

"Mike, who's this, I need to take Scar in to feed her," I said as I made my way to Mike, passing Jethro. I felt his hot gaze on the back of my back. I walked next to Mike and wrapped my arm around him. Mike looked at Jethro and gave him the 'give the baby back to her before she chews off your head' look. Jethro handed Scar back to me, as he was doing so, his hand gently brushed against my arm. A tingling feeling went down my spine and almost sent me dropping to my knees, almost.

"Thank-you," I told him as I brought Scar back into the house and began making Scar her bottle.

I busied myself trying to concentrate on making Scar's lunch. It was really hard especially I was trying to focus on Mike and Jethro's conversation outside the entire time. It was more of a murmur but it was something like, why Mike had a wife that looked identical to me when I was the Director of NCIS and whether or not I really was Jennifer Shepard. I was half-way through feeding Scar when Mike and Jethro walked into the house. Mike walked up to me and slid his arms around my waist. If a man walked up and did this to me on any other occasion, I would have more than likely shot them by now. Of course, Jethro was an exception along with this situation.

"He's Gibbs, and gonna' be staying with us for a coupla' months."

I felt his smoky breath against my neck. I looked up at Jethro, still staring at me as if he was still sure that I was the Jen he used to know. I turned away from Jethro and faced Mike, I locked my arms around his neck and gave him the 'explain' look and replied in the most cheery voice that I could,

"Okay."

Mike got my look and wanted to keep his ears from ringing afterwards and said, "Probie 'ere works for a federal agency, NCIS. He's on holiday, stayin' with us for a coupla' months before going back to Washington."

NCIS. Something I haven't heard being said aloud in so long.

"What's NCIS, hun?"

Something that I had always secretly hated people asking when I was still the director of NCIS, Jethro knew this. I said it partly so that Jethro would stop thinking that I was me and another reason was that it seemed as though no-one had the slightest idea what NCIS meant.

"Oh," Mike seemed surprised that I had asked such a question.

"Naval Criminal Investigation Service," Jethro answered, still staring at me with curious and not so angered eyes, anymore.

"Okay," I replied softly, not wanting to look Jethro in the eye.

Scar lifted her fist and waved it in the air, it was as if she didn't want to be left out of our conversation. As I waved my finder across her, she grabbed it and I kept moving it in a backwards and forwards motion. Not only to calm her but to also take my concentration off Jethro and onto something else. It was a while until I realized that the both of them were silent because they were waiting for my reply. So I finally spoke up,

"I'll go and set up the rooms."

Mike and Jethro were following me through Mike's house, I was at the hallway when I remembered. There were no other rooms that were available, Mike had his own master bedroom, I had a room and Scar had a room. All three of the rooms were taken. Not to mention it would be really weird if two couples didn't even sleep in the same room. I shot a look up at Mike and as if he read my mind he spoke to Jethro.

"You're gonna' hafta sleep in her room, _after _she gets everything packed up. She's the type who can't sleep with people," I stared at Mike, then at Jethro. He wasn't buying it but he played along anyway.

"Let's go out, I gotta' talk to you Mike." Jethro began to make his was out to the beach again. Mike looked at me for a while and followed behind him.


End file.
